Operating means for sliding elevator doors



R ET AL G ELEVATOR D F55 I950 N R GUILBERT, J

OPERATING MEANS FOR SLIDIN Feb. 14, 1950 N. R. GUILBERT, JR., ETAL 2,497,080

OPERATING MEANS FOR SLIDING ELEVATOR DOORS Filed April 19, 1946 3 SheetsShee'h 2 Tin-11.2.

ATTORNEY Feb. 14, 1950 N. R. GUILBERT, JR, ETAL I 2,497,030

OPERATING MEANS FDR SLIDING ELEVATOR DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 19, 1946 l atentetl ch. 14,

ornnnirilve MEA -s Fonsmnilvo; I

ELEVATDR oone- Nicholas Guilbert, Jr, Chestnut Hill, Pa", and;

George J. Arbogast, Maple Shade, N. Ji, assignors, by direct andlmesne assignments, toGuilw bert,. Inc., Philadelphia, Pa, acorporationp of;

Pennsylvania Application A ino, 1946; Serial No. essees This invention relates to power-operatedhatch'waydoors for elevators and. the like and ises'p'eeiallydirectedto the provision of l means for operating doorsof A the bi=parting type comprismg a pair of mutually counterbalanced, vertically sl-idablepanels on leaves at each floor entrance tothe -hatchway.-

Doers-oi thistype arenow ingen'eral use forfreight' elevators and are usually operated either manually or by 'power driven mechanism located at each floor and controlled fromor-independently oftheelevator cab; but such installations necessitatethe positioning of a. motor adjacent each door-with the-necessarycontrols therefor and-are consequently relatively expensive and-involve considerable complication.

Itha-s-therefore been proposed to employ but a single actuatingmotor -located'on the elevator cab conjunction with-mechanism designed to open-any desired door thehat'chway when the cab is in proximity thereto but as far as weare aware the installations ofthis type which have heretofore been made do not in practic'eopera'te smoothly; again involve considerable complicawhich we have just referred andthus comprising but a single actuating motor preferably c'arried by thecab in operative combination and associationwith means whereby the power supplied by the motorwhen energized is utilized for the actuation 'ofot'he'r instrumentalities effective to bring about the opening of any desired door in the "hatchway when the cab is proximate thereto.

More specifically the invention contemplates the pr-ovis'ion of=*means-associated with a freight elevator cab or the like and operative when actuated to -sli'dab1y engage a part such as-a bracket attached to the hatchwa y door and thereafter move thelatter from one position to another and subsequently return it to the first position in response to manipulation or other operation of the energizing means of a rnotor likewise carriedby the cab.

A further object is to-provideelevator door operating -means especially adapted for employmerit with variable speed motion transmitting mechanism-such as disclosed in a'cop'e'nding application for United States Letters Patent filed March 5, 1946byNicholas R. Guilbert, Jr, Serial No. 652;052, now abandoned, for 'Motion transmitting mechanism, whereby upon manipulation.

of suitable controls; or automatically upon'arrival of the elevator cab in proximity to a selected floor, the-hatchway door thereat is promptly and. rapidly opened; and is similarly closed prior to.

departure of: the cabirom that floor.

fitiiranothenobject of -the invention is to provicle door operating mechanism of the character described whicliisefiective to open: the selected.

door irrespective of theexact alignment of r the elevator cab with the floor, wherebyif the cabsteps a little above or-below it-the dooris nevertheless opened sufliciently to prevent its. being damaged-whena loaded'truckis movedinto or out of thecab.

Omen-objects, purposes and: advantages of. the in be understood from the'iollowing description of a preferred embodiment of-it illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a diagrammatic-front elevation, taken from inside the elevator hatchway, or an eleva'tor cab otmore :orless conventionalcharacterin-the several figures like characters are used:

to designate the same parts.

Referring-nowmore particularly to the drawingsQitwill-be understood theelevator cab l -may:

be ofsiib'staritially any specific type, suspended from a horizontal beaml carried by main cables 3 extending to the elevator operatingmechanism (not shown) at theztop ofi the hatchway. The latter-is definecl by a 'back wall 4, side walls '5, 6 supportingguide rails- 1 1:,and'afront wall 3 in which the opening 8 isnormally closed by 'a biparting door comprisingza vertically slidable lower leaf i0 and a complementar-y upper leaf 5 i, mutually counterbalanced-by mechanism (not I shown) whereby as the lower leaf is'depressed to bring its truckingsill t2 into alignment with-the building floor 13 the upper leaf concurrently rises to fully open the doorway.

The elevator cab and;- hatcn's'tructure heret ofore described is thus typical-ofthosenow in general use and so merely-illustrative: of-a 'freig'ht elevator installation with which the mechanism vention-will hereinafter more fully appear or restricted or confined thereto, however, as it may be employed with equal advantage if desired for the operation of elevator doors of other character and, in fact, with slidable elements generally whether associated with elevators or other devices.

The said mechanism as shown in the drawings comprises two cooperative door operating units, one at either side of the elevator cab, but as they are substantially similar in construction and operation it is only requisite to describe but one herein in detail.

Each unit comprising a substantially rectangular frame or cam car 5, having guide shoes l6 embracing vertical guide rails secured by brackets l8 to the sides of the elevator cab, the cam car being thus slidable vertically along the rails within limits determined by limit switches 20, 2| positioned on the cab respectively adjacent the upper and lower ends of the rails and connected by leads .(notshown) with the cam car operating mechanism now to be described.

This mechanism comprises a sprocket chain 22, the ends of which are respectively secured to the top and bottom of the cam car which passes over a sprocket 23 supported from a shaft 24 at the top of the cab and a similar sprocket 25 carried on a shaft 26 below the cab floor. Shaft 24 is driven by a sprocket 21 and endless chain 28 from another sprocket 29 on a shaft 30, which is the driven shaft of suitable motion transmitting mechanism 3| preferably constructed substantially in accordance with the disclosure of said copending application and actuated through a drive shaft 32 from a motor 33 or other prime mover located, preferably, on the top of the elevator cab and s unitarily movable therewith.

Control means of any suitable or conventional character are provided for motor 33 whereby the latter is energized, either manually or automatically, when the door is to be opened or closed, but as said means form no part of the present invention illustration orspecific description thereof is not required.

It will be understood, however, that motor 33 when energized to open or close a door acts to reciprocate the cam car vertically along rails I! and the car and associated mechanism, to which reference will now be made, are therefore directly instrumental in attaining the desired results. More particularly, the cam car supports a movable friction unit 35 comprising horizontally slidable rails 36, 31 interconnected by a vertical bar 38, each rail carrying at its end nearest the front wall of the hatchway a shoe 39 provided with a friction lining 40 while a similar complementary shoe 4| and friction lining 42 are supported from each of arms 43, 44 pivoted on brackets 45 projecting laterally from rails 36, 31. Springs 46, 41 surrounding studs 48, 49 bias arms 43, 44 about their pivots, while nuts 50, on the studs limit the approach of shoe 4| toward shoe 39 under the influence of the springs and thus provide a positive minimum for the spacing of friction linings 40, 42, whose separation away from this minimum is yieldably resisted by the springs. The primary function of the shoes is to engage and grip an element associated with one of the leaves of the door, preferably the lower leaf l0, and so to slide it vertically with respect to the elevator cab and hatchway by operation of motor 33, and to this end a door iron 55 is secured to the usual wing arm 56 carried by the leaf in such manner that it extends into the plane of the space between the shoes so that when the cam car is operated 4 to project the shoes forwardly they embrace and yieldably grip the door iron, the beveled edges of which insure its smooth interengagement with the shoe linings.

To enable the shoes to be thus projected, their supporting rails 36, 31 are horizontallymovable with respect to the cam car, being slidable in staples G0 on the car frame, and bar 38 connecting rails 36, 31 carries a roller 6| engageable with a cam guide 62 during downward movement of the cam car and with a second cam guide 63 during upward movement, cam guide 62 extending angularly forward and downward near its upper end and then vertically parallel to rails H, and the second cam guide 63 extending upwardly and rearwardly parallel to, but a little above, the angular portion of cam guide 52. It results that when the cam car moves downward from the position indicated in full lines in Fig. 4 the roller 6|, engaging car guide 62, first moves the entire friction unit forward relatively to the cam car and then keeps it in projected position during further travel of the latter to the position indicated in dotted lines in said figure. Accordingly, when the elevator is stopped at a floor, and the cam car moves downward by energizing motor 33, the friction shoes first engage and embrace the door iron and thereafter carry it, and hence the lower leaf of the door, downward with them until movement of the cam car is stopped by operation of lower limit switch 2|.

Desirably the parts are so proportioned and arranged as to insure substantially full face-toface engagement of the shoes and door iron at least soon after the shoes have been fully projected forward by the operation of roller 6| and cam guide 62, and the doors, and the nuts 505| controlling the tension of springs 464'l, are so adjusted that the frictional engagement between the shoes and the door iron will cause them to move the latter without appreciable slippage, under normal conditions after they have gripped it and until the door has been fully opened.

Limit switch 2| is so positioned with respect to rails l1 that under said conditions it will be actuated by the cam car to stop the movement of the latter at or about the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4 which corresponds to full opening of the door when the elevator cab stops at the floor level. If, however, because of an overload or some other unusal condition, it stops somewhat below that level the cam car can continue its downward travel relatively to the cab until it actuates the switch and deenergizes motor 33, the yielding character of the connection between the friction shoes and the door iron allowing the former to slip along the latter after further separation of the door leaves is prevented by the usual stops limiting their travel. Thus irrespective of whether the cab stops in proper alignment with the floor or a little below it, the cam car can always actuate the limit switch to deenergize motor 33 and so bring itself to rest after the door has been fully opened.

Should the elevator stop above the floor level the movement of the cam car conversely may not be sufficient to bring the trucking sill farther than to or just below the level of the cab fioor and thus perhaps slightly above the building floor level. In such case, however, the sill is fully protected from damage, for any material weight upon or vertical pressure against it, as when a truck is moved across it, merely forces the door down until the sill reaches the floor level, the door iron slipping between the friction shoes as the leaf 0 moves.

element carried by the cab, means interconnecting said element and motor whereby when the motor is energized the element is moved relatively to the cab, a member supported from the door for movement therewith, a shoe adapted to frictionally engage said member, means operative to yieldingly press the shoe against the member sufliciently when so engaged to cause the member to move unitarily with the shoe under normal operating conditions, and means operable through movement of the element to bring the shoe into engagement with the member whereby to open and close the door thereafter in correspondence to movement of the element.

8. In combination with an elevator and a slidable door for its hatchway, an element carried by the door and reciprocal therewith along a rectilinear path parallel to that of the elevator, friction means operative to engage the element, and means for projecting the friction means outwardly of the elevator substantially in the plane of and into frictional engagement with a surface of the element and operative subsequent to such projection to move the friction means with said element along said rectilinear path.

9. In combination with an elevator and a slidable door for its hatchway, an element carried by the door and reciprocal therewith along a rectilinear path parallel to that of the elevator, friction shoes projectible in planes parallel to opposed faces of the element to frictionally embrace the latter, shoe supporting means carried 8 by the elevator movable in a path parallel to the path of the element, and means adapted to effect projection of the shoes while the supporting means are moving in their path.

10. In combination with an elevator and a slidable door for its hatchway, an element carried by the door and reciprocal therewith in a rectilinear path parallel to that of the elevator, friction shoes projectible in planes parallel to opposed faces of the element to embrace the latter in frictional engagement therewith, shoe supporting means carried by the elevator movable in a. path parallel to that of the element, and means carried by the elevator adapted to successively project the shoes into engagement with the element, maintain the shoes in engagement therewith and finally retract the shoes from engagement with the element during reciprocation of the supporting means along its path.

NICHOLAS R. GUILBER'I', JR. GEORGE J. ARBOGAST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in thefile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

